Chapter 21

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Chapter 21

We made a toast and spread out the food we bought earlier while drinking canned shochu* and other beverages. It was a rare opportunity to eat and drink outside, so I was thrilled. The breeze felt good, and the cherry blossoms were beautiful.

*Shochu is a Japanese traditional hard liquor.

“But well, Aoi-chan is really cute and beautiful. To think you’re this beautiful, I’m surprised.”

Kurosaki brought a plate of grilled meat and vegetables while sipping on oolong tea. This guy’s an admirable guy who’ll readily take on most things for Leila. Leila thanked him and accepted the plate, but her eyes only went to the food.

“Right! She said she doesn’t have a boyfriend! Isn’t that super surprising?”

“Ehh? Really? But if she’s this cute then no one can make a move on her, can they?”

“What? Kurosaki, even if you get plastic surgery, it won’t work, you know. Have you ever looked in the mirror? What in the world are you saying? What do you think, Aoi-chan?”

They’ve talked a lot and while I won’t say she can talk freely with Leila now, but well, I think they’re getting along just fine since she’s putting her hand on Aoi’s shoulder. The way Kurosaki said it was kind of old school-like, but Aoi was still bewildered.

“Eh, uhh, um…”

“Aoi-chan, it’s okay to be honest.”

“Leila, really now…”

“I don’t want to be told that by a spindly* glasses guy.”

*long/tall, thin, and weak

“What did you say.”

Kurosaki seems happy while saying so. He really is an idiot; I feel sorry for him. Aoi was laughing while drinking orange juice and randomly snacking on the food. Well, she seemed to be all right somehow, so I also randomly snacked on the food.

“Aoi, what do you always do when you hang out with Yuki?”

Leila suddenly changed the subject. Aoi and I looked at each other.

“Yeah, I’m also interested in that. Yuki usually just drinks, right, Shouta?”

“You’re right, she just drinks and gets wasted, doesn’t she?”

“You don’t have to go that far…”

How rude, though they’re not wrong. I am surprised that everyone only perceives me as a drinker. It’s true that I drink a lot when I’m with everyone, but when I’m with Aoi, there are a lot of times where I don’t drink and so I spoke a little thoughtfully.

“Rather than saying we hang out… it’s more like I stay over, isn’t it?”

I asked Aoi. Aoi nodded shyly for some reason.

“Yeah. She stays over and I cook… we then play games… and stuff like that? Also, we sometimes go out for dinner, call each other… we always… keep in touch.”

“Whaat?! Yuki, you stay over at Aoi’s place?”

Leila now drew closer over on to me. Is that really something to be so surprised about? I nodded while pulling away.

“Y…Yeah, I stay over a lot.”

“What?! And you always call and stuff?”

“Yeah, well, I do, I think?”

“What the… I’m so jealous. You’re doing something like that with cute Aoi-chan.”

Leila had an exaggeratedly astonished and envious look on her face. Why? I followed up even with my doubts.

“No, Leila, I stay over with you too, don’t I?”

Even though I made a good argument, Leila was angry.

“That’s different! It’s not fair that Yuki’s the only one! Stupid! Piece of shit idiot!! I want to get along with her too!”

She was protesting with abusive words and pulling my arm several times. I hurriedly put down my drink. I was glad the liquor didn’t overflow, though I wished she wouldn’t do stuff like this so abruptly.

“That’s dangerous! I know you want to get along with her, but don’t be too pushy! Aoi’s taken aback, see?”

“What? Really? I’m sorry, Aoi-chan, I just wanted to talk to you about a lot of things, so I unconsciously…”

“I-It’s okay. I was just a little surprised.”

Leila apologizes to Aoi who was sitting next to me by poking her head out from beside me. I was at a loss of words from the restless Leila and then, to my surprise, Shouta opened his mouth.

“Yuki being a decent friend? Moreover, do you really like cooking, Aoi-chan?”

“Y-yeah. I like to cook and… since Yuki’s likes it when I do, I often cook for her.”

“Wow. You’re gifted with both intelligence and beauty. You’re not active on social media, so I didn’t know much about you.”

“T…That’s not true at all!”

I was unexpectedly surprised by Aoi who denied it a little shyly. I also don’t use social media, but isn’t it rare for a celebrity to not use it?

“Aoi, you don’t use social media? I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, I mean I don’t how to use it anyway.”

“You really watch too little TV, don’t you? Aoi-chan doesn’t use social media, so much of her daily life isn’t known, yet she’s still popular.”

I’m impressed with Shouta explaining it to me while dumfounded. There are too many things I didn’t know about Aoi since before, but this, at the very least, can’t be helped, right? You don’t see what you don’t see. I appeased Shouta who gave me a cold look.

“Well, well, don’t look at me like that.”

“Yuki, seriously? You didn’t know about Aoi-chan?”

This time Kurosaki interrupted me in surprise. I’m uncomfortable from the feeling of being blamed, but I still answered.

“Uhh, yeah. I had no idea.”

“Shouta’s the one who told you, right? Yuki’s ignorant in that area so it can’t be helped.”

Leila offers a helping hand while holding onto my arm, but Kurosaki immediately denies it.

“No, Aoi-chan’s pretty famous. You should know about her. She’s been on TV too.”

“Kuro, Yuki was surprised to death when I showed her pictures of Aoi, that’s how she found out about her.”

“You can’t be serious…”

I was heartbroken, to think that there came a day where Kurosaki would be taken aback by me. I couldn’t believe I would be taken aback by this idiot. While I was feeling vexed, Aoi discreetly interrupted me.

“U-Um! I’m the one that didn’t… tell Yuki, so Yuki isn’t… the one at fault. …It can’t be helped that she didn’t know.”

At that statement, everyone except Aoi and I looked at each other. Even though she had her doubts, Leila was the first one to speak up.

“Aoi-chan, you’re too kind.”

“Seriously. You’re too good for Yuki.”

“Yep. First of all, she’s been nice from the start, considering their first encounter. There’s really nothing to criticize.”

I thought ‘not good’ from the last thing Shouta said, but Kurosaki already asked Shouta about the encounter and so Shouta immediately told him. To think they’re going to talk about that encounter, this is the worst. It makes me feel like they hold my weakness. It’s frustrating, but I didn’t even have a chance to interject. I think I’m going to hit him later.

“Aoi-chan really likes Yuki, don’t you!”

Aoi flinched again at Leila’s sudden question.

“Huh?! Well, um… that… y…yeah.”

“Yep yep! Oh yeah, I want to go on a trip with you next time. We’ll take Shouta or someone to be in charge of the car too!”

“Tr-Trip? …O-Okay, if I can… I want to go.”

Leila is smiling happily while Aoi is being completely carried away by Leila’s pace. Leila’s too direct in many ways, but this is one of her good points. I patted Leila’s shoulder.

“Leila, you’re being too sudden.”

“What? You think so? I’ve been talking about wanting to go on a trip for a long time! You don’t want to go, Yuki?”

“I want to go, but Aoi’s busy, so it’ll be difficult, okay?”

“But it’s such a good opportunity! I want to soak in the hot spring, eat delicious food and enjoy everything to the fullest! I want to go somewhere far away; I want to be soothed!”

I said ‘I got it, I got it’ to Leila’s strong insistence and then stroked her head to calm her down. Aoi is busy compared to us, so it’ll probably be difficult. Plus, I doubt Aoi can relax since Leila is noisy.

“Um, it’s really… okay.”

““Huh?””

Me and Leila’s voice overlapped by what Aoi said. What happened to Aoi? I become worried from Aoi’s assertiveness.

“Uh, Aoi? What’s wrong? Leila’s just being unreasonable, so it’s totally fine to ignore her, okay?”

“Eh, um, I want to go too. It sounds like fun since I don’t really travel or anything. Plus… if Yuki’s going then I want to go too.”

“Yayy! Then, let’s definitely go! It’s a promise, okay? I’ll make all the plans!”

“Okay.”

Leila was once again oh so happy wondering where a good place to travel would be. Aoi also seemed happy. It was very unexpected for Aoi to say something like that, but I was happy to see that she’s changing.

“Aoi, while Leila is noisy, I do hope you’ll get along with her. I think we’re really set on going now so be prepared.”

“I’ll be fine. Leila-chan’s a good girl. While I do have that kind of job, I’m looking forward to it.”

“You’re right.”

I laughed along with her because she gave a small laugh. Then Leila leaned forward from my side.

“Heyy! Aoi-chan! Can you give me your contact information? I want to talk to you about all kinds of things, plus there’s the upcoming trip too!”

“Oh yeah, okay. I understand.”

I was relieved to see Aoi exchanging contact information with Leila, who seemed to be getting along with her somehow.

We then talked a lot about our worst episodes when drinking, about work and the holidays, enjoying the food and drinks. Aoi was surprised by our stories but seemed to enjoy them. I was relieved that she was able to take a breather because of the recent incidents. There were some embarrassing stories, but I overlooked them this time.

Since it was getting late in the evening, we decided to disband early because Shouta and Leila had to work during the night. By this time, Aoi seemed to have gotten along well with everyone and was doing fine without me having to follow-up for her. As I was thinking ‘that’s great’ and cleaning up, Leila hugged me from behind. I was unfazed and continued to clean up as it happens often.

“Leila, that’s dangerous.”

“It’s fine! Yuki! Rather than that, can we take a picture?”

“Huh, right now? I’m cleaning up right now, rather, help me clean up.”

“Do that later! It’s fine, come on now!”

She put the camera in selfie mode and called out to everyone. Shouta and Kurosaki came up as though they had no choice and Aoi came next to me.

“Hmm? No good. Shouta, can you take a good picture?”

“You’re the one who called me, and now I have to do that?”

Shouta, who was at the edge, reluctantly took Leila’s phone and took a nice picture with everyone showing, including the cherry blossoms.

“Oh, it looks good, Shouta!”

Leila happily hugged my neck from the side. Kurosaki, who’s beside Leila, looked at me enviously which was awkward, but I ignore it. I’m sorry, but it’s not like I’m the one who’s doing it.

“Aoi-chan, come a little closer.”

“Oh, okay.”

Aoi only slightly came closer to me from Shouta’s voice. While it was funny wondering whether Aoi was just being reserved or embarrassed, since her distance didn’t change at all from just now, I put my arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me. In an instant, the distance between our faces came close.

“Y-Yuki?”

“You need to be this close to be in the photo.”

“Okay…”

“Alright then, I’ll take the photo.”

While Aoi was confused, I rested my head against hers and smiled.

With the picture taken and the clean-up finished, we got off at the station where we met up and parted ways. Leila left looking like she really didn’t want to go home.

The pictures Leila sent after she went home were well taken. Aoi was also smiling a lot.

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